They will play in the Watson's Water Challenge Final in 12 hours. Though this is an exhibition tournament, all players view it as a very important tuneup for AO, just like Sveta and Venus today. Who do you think will win?

On Elena, she is playing with a new serve, or I should say a proper serve. For her match against Masha and her doubles matches, she didn't use a single bad toss and she hit all serves at full strength, though consistency is still an issue. Her return game and groundstrokes are very reliable and accurate as usual.

On Venus, she is still a bit more erratic on the forehand side, but her two singles victories here displayed her determination and ability to fight back as her old self in 2000 and 2001. She is able to turn matches around.

I'll give a slight edge to Elena over Venus. Your view?

Bezz

Jan 7th, 2005, 05:54 PM

I dunno who is gonna win, if venus can keep up the way she has been playing and keeps her forehand and 2nd serve in check she has a great shot. On the other hand if Elena can stay consistent with her serve and stay positive she has has a great shot also. I have a feeling its gonna be a cracking match! :cool:

tennisjunky

Jan 7th, 2005, 05:57 PM

if both have bad serving days then I give the edge to lena d.
if both have good serving days then i give the slight edge to venus
this should be a good close match, too tough to call but the safe money has to be on lena d.

DEETHELICK

Jan 7th, 2005, 05:58 PM

Just on recent form, confidence and consistency off the ground, I have to say Elena D.

Elena D nearly defeated Venus in straight sets last year with a bad serve, so I'm interested to see how much of a weapon it will be.

I like Venus too, I hope she plays well. But its Elena who I am supporting and hope wins.

May we have a great match that will really give both ladies a good test and workout for the AO.

I say Elena in 3.

Happy Guy

Jan 7th, 2005, 05:59 PM

Who is going to watch the match live in person or on tv?

tom2791

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:00 PM

I voted Venus but I meant Elena! My vote goes to Elena

katiektc

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:06 PM

im hoping it will be a tough 3-setter, to give both of them a good work out.
im hoping elena d wins it, even though i like vee too.
it'll be interesting to see how the serve works 2mara.
udachi lena! :yeah:

darrinbaker00

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:10 PM

Whoever holds serve first wins! :devil:

lizchris

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:16 PM

I think the last time both played, Elena won in three sets with the third set being a tiebreaker. Venus doesn't like losing to the same person twice in a row, so I will give her the edge because she beat a player today that IMO is better than Elena.

LeRoy.

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:17 PM

Venus doesn't like losing to the same person twice in a row, so I will give her the edge....
But she has still lost to the same person twice in a row many times.

GANGSTABACKHAND!

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:19 PM

I actually don't care if Venus wins this match or not. Win or loose, I hope that it's 3 tough sets. I belive that the more Venus plays, the better she will get. I remember during the year that she had her longest winning streak, the wins were not easy, at times she was even out played, but she fought very hard and found a way to win. I want Venus to have as many tough matches as possible before the AO.

lizchris

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:22 PM

But she has still lost to the same person twice in a row many times.The only people she has lost to two time in a row in the past few years are her sister, Lindsay and Maria. That's not many times or many people.

DEETHELICK

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:25 PM

May Elena D be another person then. Elena has improved tenfold since Miami, she is a double GS finalist in that time.

And she is serving more aggressively.

Sveta is a v good player, but can be too explosive, erratic too.

Elena owns one THE best ground games in womens tennis and I think it will be that which will determine the outcome in Elena's favour IMO.

Vamos Feńa

Jan 7th, 2005, 06:59 PM

Maybe Lena in 3 or in a close 2.
Gooo Lena!! :D

Knizzle

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:03 PM

Just on recent form, confidence and consistency off the ground, I have to say Elena D.

Elena D nearly defeated Venus in straight sets last year with a bad serve, so I'm interested to see how much of a weapon it will be.

I like Venus too, I hope she plays well. But its Elena who I am supporting and hope wins.

May we have a great match that will really give both ladies a good test and workout for the AO.

I say Elena in 3.
If her serve is improved that will play into Venus' hands cause Venus has trouble with the really slow serves ED served to her in their last match.

daniela86

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:04 PM

elena of course :yeah:

Knizzle

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:06 PM

Venus must stay aggressive and dictate the points, if she does that she have her chances to win. I hope it's a good match.

Julia1968

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:06 PM

Whoever can hold serve.

rickukfan

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:09 PM

Venus in straight sets!!!

What were the two wins she had?

Denise4925

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:30 PM

But she has still lost to the same person twice in a row many times.
I see we have a new Williams' hater on board. I've noticed that every time something positive is said about either sister, she says something negative in response. She's one of those gnats who is lured to any thread about the Williams' sisters. I guess it's just because their light shines so brightly. ;)

Denise4925

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:50 PM

If Venus is in as good condition as she professes to be, then she will be running down a lot of balls and it will be tough for Elena to hit a winner off of her. Elena must also be careful if Vee is running down everything, because with such a wide wing span, Venus is dangerous in the alleys. Secondly, if Elena is serving more powerfully, this will work in Vee's favor. Giving her pace is giving her a weapon. She would have done better to continue to serve the floaters to make Venus try to make her own pace off the balls and make errors on the return.

I'll give it to Venus in a tough three setter.

Natasc

Jan 7th, 2005, 07:51 PM

Well, I think that Lena shows an amazing improve in her game
I saw the Match between her and Masha, then I saw the doubles match with Bepa and must say that Lena is realy playing a good tennis
So, like I good fan my vote was for her
Good luck in tommorow match Lena ;)

TartarVicario

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:08 PM

Davai Alyona :D

Knizzle

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:12 PM

If Venus is in as good condition as she professes to be, then she will be running down a lot of balls and it will be tough for Elena to hit a winner off of her. Elena must also be careful if Vee is running down everything, because with such a wide wing span, Venus is dangerous in the alleys. Secondly, if Elena is serving more powerfully, this will work in Vee's favor. Giving her pace is giving her a weapon. She would have done better to continue to serve the floaters to make Venus try to make her own pace off the balls and make errors on the return.

I'll give it to Venus in a tough three setter.
Venus was moving extremely well today running down Sveta's powerful shots. Her defense won her alot of points.

icequeen

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:14 PM

Venus was moving extremely well today running down Sveta's powerful shots. Her defense won her alot of points.

I read in article that her leg was sore.

World number 11 Zvonareva led 5-3 in the third set, but Williams dug deep to eventually seal a 115-minute victory full of unforced errors.

"I think it was an up and down match as far as the amount of errors," said Williams afterwards.

"When I was down I was making a lot more errors. She (Zvonareva) did play very well at the right time. She won five games in a row (in the third set). I was really trying to take control."

Williams meets another Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, the U.S. Open champion, on Friday for a place in the final.

Playing with her left thigh heavily bandaged, Williams explained: "It's sore."

"It's not a bad injury really. Let's see how we do tomorrow. Matches are really intensive and they are much different from practice."

Asked about her clash with Kuznetsova, Williams commented: "I feel very good. I played Svetlana a few times and she has a similar game to mine. But I definitely feel like I am playing very well."

"The crowd was really good."

"I felt they were really behind me but also at a lot of times they were behind Vera as well. So they were very fair and I appreciate that," she said.

Elena Dementieva, the Russian world number six, advanced to Saturday's final after her Czech opponent, Nicole Vaidisova, withdrew with gastroenteritis.

"I am very disappointed," 15-year-old Vaidisova said.

"This was such a good opportunity to compete against so many top players. I really wanted to play, but sadly I just cannot make it."

Andrew.

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:14 PM

Elena in two. Elena has played very well this week, and will dominate with her groundies and return game.

If Venus moves well and all that jazz, I'm sure she can beat Lena D :).

kosmikgroove

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:31 PM

Will this be televised in the states?

Andy.

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:34 PM

Venus is starting to come back into some good form beating good players i think she will make it three russians in a row Go Venus

WhatTheDeuce

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:35 PM

Will this be televised in the states?
:haha:

No.

LindsayRocks89

Jan 7th, 2005, 08:51 PM

Lets go Venus!!!! :bounce:

faboozadoo15

Jan 7th, 2005, 09:13 PM

elena in straights. her consistency at the baseline and trackability is too good for venus. also, i think elena will break serve more consistently than venus will be able to.

Sawasdee

Jan 7th, 2005, 09:30 PM

VENUS VENUS go go go!!

Kuti Kis&Monica

Jan 7th, 2005, 09:32 PM

Actually, Dementieva only did play one match or did I miss something ? anyway, difficult to predict her, i didn't them playing at this event.

jenny161185

Jan 7th, 2005, 10:21 PM

I think Ill go with Elena if rumours of a new serving technique are to be believed!!!! so whats it Like? does the toss actually go above her now?

Dementinator

Jan 7th, 2005, 10:27 PM

WEll Captain Dementinator here calling from the Bridge of SS Dementieva...
Well Jenny161185 ,yes Dementieva has really worked on her serve the toss is straight up and shes hitting full speed and hard too ,a few DFs still but on the Whole a huge improvement on last season and her returning has been amazing this week she may be a pretty girlie but hell she is STRONG! i certanly would not wanna take her on!!
Venus seems to have improved too so this should be a good match for both ,I give Elena the edge as she is simply mmoving fantastic at the mo and groundies are superb but u can neve r underestimate Venus , she can win this too ,Well I hope for Elena and have voted for her but if Vee wins I shall not be upset she will have deserved it and i am pleased with Lena Anyways she sunk the Santa Maria so that makes me happy!!!!

Capt Dem

micah

Jan 7th, 2005, 11:25 PM

Well it wouldnt let me vote for some reason. But, I would vote Venus!

Mathijs

Jan 7th, 2005, 11:37 PM

i really hope Lena wins :yeah:

tennnisfannn

Jan 7th, 2005, 11:38 PM

I hope venus, she needs this.

andrewC

Jan 7th, 2005, 11:42 PM

I really want Vee to win, she has shown such fight after losing to Maria in Chiang Mai before Hong Kong. I hope this new, aggressive, actually-gives-a-damn Venus has a lot of success in 2005, she deserves it :) But, also, I want elena to win, as I've been a fan since she won silver in 2000 in Atlanta. With a new serve, I hope she manages to win a Grand Slaw this year!

Chunchun

Jan 8th, 2005, 02:01 AM

GO Lena!

Happy Guy

Jan 8th, 2005, 02:02 AM

three and a half hour to go

Volcana

Jan 8th, 2005, 02:07 AM

They will play in the Watson's Water Challenge Final in 12 hours. Though this is an exhibition tournament, all players view it as a very important tuneup for AO, just like Sveta and Venus today.Do they? I mean, anything a week before OZ is important, but is it as important to them as Sydney, for example? I've never paid any attention to this exo before, so I know little of how players regard.

Venus_Serena

Jan 8th, 2005, 02:10 AM

Venus in two close sets!!!

GO VENUS!!!
:kiss: :hearts: :worship:

VeNuS#1LoVa

Jan 8th, 2005, 02:15 AM

I'm praying for a Venus win, but she needs to play like she did today...Go Venus, I'm so proud of you babe, keep up the good work.... :woohoo:

faboozadoo15

Jan 8th, 2005, 04:42 AM

Do they? I mean, anything a week before OZ is important, but is it as important to them as Sydney, for example? I've never paid any attention to this exo before, so I know little of how players regard.
probably less than sydney but way more than the other tier 3's or lower that lead up to the aussi. there's a LOT of money at stake, and the quality of players is HIGH. you don't want to throw in the clunker and get everything to think you're a sinking ship going into the aus open. i'd say there's a very high level of pressure considering this is all exhibition.

bigshow21

Jan 8th, 2005, 04:52 AM

Good luck Elena!!!!!

Hope it is a good match with some exciting, edge-of-your-seat tennis!!! Plus, I hope that both players stay injury free. Good luck to both...but I'm cheering for Elena!!!!!!